49 U.S.C. § 1112
Section 1112 · Special boards of inquiry on air transportation safety
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 2 court decisions — leading case Griggs v. County of Allegheny Pennsylvania (1962)
Most recently applied in 57 Fed. Cl. 571 - Breneman v. United States (August 2003)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Establishment.—If an accident involves a substantial question about public safety in air transportation, the National Transportation Safety Board may establish a special board of inquiry composed of—
(1) one member of the Board acting as chairman; and
(2) 2 members representing the public, appointed by the President on notification of the establishment of the special board of inquiry.
(b) Qualifications and Conflicts of Interest.—The public members of a special board of inquiry must be qualified by training and experience to participate in the inquiry and may not have a pecuniary interest in an aviation enterprise involved in the accident to be investigated.
(c) Authority.—A special board of inquiry has the same authority that the Board has under this chapter.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
In subsection (c), the words “when convened to investigate an accident certified to it by the National Transportation Safety Board” are omitted as surplus.